Microsoft'sLumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL smartphones have been on the marketless than six months, but Microsoft is practically giving them away. The software giant is giving away a free Lumia 950 if you buy the larger Lumia 950 XL unlocked from the Microsoft Store in the US before May 1st. That's a savings of $549, and a somewhat unusual deal for the flagship Windows 10 Mobile phones.

It appears that Microsoft is clearing its inventory of Lumia devices, amidst poor sales and a lack of marketing. Microsoft revealed last week that it only sold 2.3 million Lumia handsets in the recent quarter, a massive 73 percent drop from the 8.6 million sold at the same time last year. Microsoft launched its Lumia 650 back in February, and rumors suggest it will be the last Lumia handset.

Although, it seems a limited-time and region-specific offer, it does show that for Microsoft it is probably the end of Lumia phone business. The Lumia 950 is a high-end phone, with top hardware like Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, 3GM RAM and a 20-megapixel primary camera inside it. When a company gives away such a phone for free -- even if that free is conditional -- it is safe to assume that its phone business is in a dire situation.

Numbers from the market too indicate the same. In its latest quarterly report a few days ago, the company noted that its phone revenue was down 46 per cent. It also said that it only sold 2.3 million Lumia phones compared to 8 million it had sold last year in the same quarter.

Off late, Microsoft is focusing on its cloud computing business and is seemingly moving away from devices. In terms of the devices, most of the focus is on Surface tablets and the Xbox. While there is talk of Microsoft completely shutting down phone hardware, there are also rumours that it may probably re-structure it and fold it into the Surface division. There are rumours that Microsoft will launch high-end phones in future but they will be called Surface phones and not Lumia phones.